Sakura Drops
by ShaPip
Summary: Pippa's done a lot of bad things in her life, but the worst by far may have been a little trist with Zechs Merquise. How did it happen? What will result?? READ TO FIND OUT!!!!
1. Sakura Drops

Disclaimer: I don't own any copyrighted characters.  
  
-Sakura Drops-  
  
Another day spent on the town, wandering around the city, watching people pass by, smiling, laughing. But she wasn't. She was alone, sitting in front of her take out lunch on a picnic table. She wasn't hungry afterall, not for another limp hamburger and soda from the stand down the street from the park. All alone in such a big city-- how was this possible?

All the trees were still bare from the winter. All the flowers were still seeds in the earth, awaiting their chance to bloom into beautiful creatures of multitudes of colors, soon just to be picked by a wandering child and tossed on the street without a care.

She let out a heavy sigh, resting her chin upon her hands, looking across the baren park at the passing strangers. They all looked so fulfilled, vibrant creatures with a million thoughts running through their brains all at once, but none were of her. Solitude in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world is what she had, its all she had.

"Sumimasen..." said the deep voice of a man. He was obviously a traveler to the woman's ear. He said it all wrong, at least he tried.

"I speak English." she sighed without even looking up.

"I was just wondering if I could share this table with you" he said, "Seeing as all the others are full... and--"

"Its fine." She didnt want to hear his observations. She just kept watching on across the park, at the trees and the huge skyscrapers gracing the sky. She felt the weight of the man sitting down on the bench seat opposite of her. He was to her left though, not in the way of her vision. She heard him left out a light sigh of relief as he sat. She felt his eyes move across the horizon to her face. He was staring at her. Out of the corner of her eye, the woman glanced at the man. She looked away immediatley to let the images register in her head. Then she immediatley looked back at him, straight on. She knew this man.

"You..." The man said to her. His eyes were a disturbing ice blue, looking at her with utter surprise. His spooth, thin lips were just barely ajar. His bleached hair was blowing just slightly with the small breeze. It was long, past his waist. He was wearing a brown leather jacket, under it was a light blue blouse buttoned straight to the top. He was a handsome man, that was for sure.

"You!" she said with less a surprised tone as one of animosity and annoyance. Her brow was furrowed and her expression as almost a sneer. "What do you want?"

"It's you..." he still stared in disbelief.

"The war is over!" she stood and removed herself from the bench, grabbing her pack from the ground. "Don't you know when to stop?"

"The war_ is_ over." he said to her, looking down towards the table, his eyes closed. "I didn't know it was you, I'm sorry."

"Oh, yeah, thats real believeable! I would never trust you, Zechs Merquise! You don't have to lie-- who sent you?"

"No one. I'm on a business trip. I just arrived here and I wanted to rest. Don't be foolish."

"Whatever. Just leave me alone" the woman stormed off the opposite direction of even where she lived. Zechs Merquise, watched her go, then glanced down around the table. She had left her lunch and her wallet. He grabbed hold of the wallet and stood, as a chain reaction.

"Hey! You, uh... Khushrenada!" he called after the woman. She just ran off around a corner, into the deep jungle they call Tokyo, Japan.

Merquise sighed and returned to his seat, opening up the faded and worn black wallet. The first thing he saw was her driver's license, but he couldn't read a thing but her name. Phillipa Khushrenada. It was printed in English at the top of her address, below some other characters foreign to him. He smiled just the tiniest bit at her picture. It was horrible, looking just like her old photo on file with the OZ Organization. The same dark hair in the same braids. Her expression was yet again of annoyance, her eyes green yet almond shaped. It mustn't be too recent. Zechs looked off towards where she darted off, stood up himself and walked the opposite direction, shoving his hands in his coat pockets as well as her wallet. 

Zechs Merquise entered a small, air condioned building soon after. It sat on a corner of a busy little intersection and there was only one otherp erson inside other than the three clerks. He walked up to a counter where a young Japanese man stood.

"Kon nichi wa!" the young man stated and bowed shallow. Zechs took the wallet from his pocket and opened it up to the identification card.

"Do you know English?" he asked the young man.

The young man looked at him queerly then turned to the vacant counter to his left. there sat another young man. He was reading a magazine, waiting for someone to approach him. They cpoke briefly and the second young man came to where the first had been.

"I speak English. How may I help you?"

"Can you tell me how to get to this address" Zechs showed the young man the address on the card. The young man read it and thought for am inute, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yes. This complex is just two blocks south of here. It is called Eiga Apaato. Big picture of soldier on sign near front. 6th floor."

"Thanks." with that Zechs exitted, leaving the young clerks chattering about their mysterious guest.

HE was in luck, that was what Zechs Merquise thought. His young friend had ran south. She went home. 'Why was she so edgy', he had wondered. 'Why am I so determined about his?'

It took a good 10 minutes but he was finally in front of her building. On the sign was a picture of a soldier wearing full camoflauge and holding a huge rifle. The sign read Pride Apartments under some Japanese kana. He felt a few rain drops fall onto his shoulder. He looked at the sky. It was dark with thunder clouds... deffinatley looked like rain. He took larger steps heading to the building, observing the few cars in the parking lot. There was a woman with three children ahead of him heading towards the building. She looked worn and tired from her day, the young children singing and yelling and playing with each other around their mother. He followed them through the main door with ease, there wasn't a doorman or any kind of key to entert he building needed. He went straight for the elevator ahead of the woman and hit floor 6. The doors closed right as the woman shouted something to Zechs, hurrying to reach the elevator. But he just let it close.

The Identification card read the number 603 and Zechs guessed that was her apartment number. It was right there as the eleavtor opened. The second door on the left, just 20 feet from where he was. The alway smelled wonderful, of inscents and some sort of meat. It was all white and sanitary looking. He liked this hallway.

The doorbell for her apartment was muffled behind her door. It was a simple two toned electronic beep. Very mechanical, no personality to it's sound. He liked that, too. Soon she came to the door, swinging violently the door open, not looking at all happy herself.

"Nan-- What do you want!?" she said to him.

"I just wanted to give this to y--" he reached for his pocket.

"I dont want anything from you, you dirty bastard!!" she yelled at him. A few of her neighboors looked at her strangely, having their doors open to the screens. Even Zechs looked a bit surprised. She looked embarassed then corected herself. "Oh, ah, what I MEANT to say was I dont want anything from you, you dirty bastard, unless you come in for tea first! Hah, yeah..." most of her neighboors knew English.

"Oh... I just wanted to return this..." he pulled out her wallet as she pulled him in and locked the door behind them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing just waltzing up to my home?" she didnt even notice why he was there.

"Im sorry, I found this on the table after you left..." He glanced around her apartment, though it was more of a studio. It was all white. White tiles on the floor, white walls, white sofa with white pillows. Everything was so sanitary looking, cold and heartless.

"You didnt have to come up here! Everybody knows who you are! You could have gotten me in trouble! How did you get up here? Wasn't the doorman there? Goddammit, I hate him! I hate him! I hate you!"

"I just came here to give you your wallet back!" He said above her noise. Phillipa, as was her name, blinked at him, her mout still ajar. Her brow unfurled as she saw him extended his hand to her, handing her the wallet. She snatched it from him and slid it with ease into her back pocket, shutting her mouth and glaring at him.

"Thanks." she snorted going back to her white kitchen in the back of the studio. Zechs turned on his heels and looked around the living area of her place. He looked at her briefly. She ws actually preparing tea. Who'd have thought she'd meant it. "Sit on the couch." she instructed him without looking back in a flat tone of voice. Zechs did just that, sitting in a proper fashion. He glanced out a window ahead of him, it was really starting to pour outside, a bright flash of lightening illuminated thesky accompanied bya loud crack of thunder.

"I really should be going." he said to her back. "I am on a business trip and I have business to attend to."

She turned and looked at him. "Oh.. well.. if you must leave, you must, I suppose" she sounded down. She looked at his face then turned back to her tea, pouring two mugs and setting them on the tray, hopefull, if nothing else, was what she was after being alone so long.

"If you'd like, I can stay." He was standing again.

"No, I dont want to keep you from your work."

"I'll stay..."

"Just go!"

"No, Im sorry, but Im staying here for tea."

"Fine!" She brought the tray over and set if on her small white coffee table and sat on the opposite side of the couch. She grabbed hr mug of tea and glared at hr guest, who sat down just then. He looked at her almost sympathetically and took the other mug. She looke away from him, forwards towards her kitchen, sipping at her tea.

"This is a nice place." Zechs said to her. "You didn't over do it."

"I try." They didnt talk much for a while, just gave each other the occasional glance or glare.

"Why.." Phillipa broke the silence. "Why did you grow your hair out long?" she asked him.

"I dont know.. its a very long story..I'd rather not get into that right now..."

"Okay... I was just gonna say.. its, um.. looks good on you..."

"Thank you" he said. He felt a little akwards at the point. Why did she complement him? The reason was completely a mystery to him. He looked down into his mug of tea, at his reflection and saw a bit of hers in there. She was still looking st him. "You're staring at me. Why?"  
She looked away. "Im sorry, I didn't realize..."

"Its fine."

"No, it's not..."

"Yes it is." He looked over at her. His eyes and his lips softened as looked over her. Her long hair wasn't tied back into braids now, it was loose, flowing along the curves of her shoulder, her back and her chest where it rested in it's giant mass. She was wearing the same green she always did -- army green -- as her tee-shirt and a pair of darker army green slacks. She had set her mug back on the tray and was observing her hands, wondering where she broke that nail. He never really liked this girl, the way she acted so stuck up and bitchy. She was, afterall, the younger sister of one Treize Khushrenada. He knew this after his dear friend has sent him after her, to capture her and return her to her older sibling. He failed miserably. But now... there was something different about her that didn't deter him, send him running for the hills just to get away from this girl, his enemy in the war. She, a Gundam Pilot, and he, Zechs Merquise. Need I say more.

"Phillipa--"

"It's...Pippa" she corrected him.

"Right... Pippa..."

"Yes?" she looked at him, wide eyed.

"You've changed.. I don't know what it is.."

She snorted: "Well, gee! I am 5 years older now!"

"Thats not it..."

"Well? What is it? It can't be that hard to figure out what changed about me! My hair grew! I changed clothes! I wear eye stuff see?"

"No... its none of that..."

"Then what is it?!?--" she was cut off by Zechs Merquise's lips taking her own in his. Hi hand came up to her cheek and held her there. It seemed to last forever to her, this surprise from the older man. She pulled her lips from his and looked at him disgusted.

"What the hell are you doing??"

"I-I dont know..." He closed his eyes, and looked to down to his left.Her eyes softened as she looked down at him. She didn't mean to hurt his feelings like that. It just came as such a asurprise. It actually felt... good.

"Zechs..."she said softly to the blonde man. He looked up at her, sitting up straight. "That... thats what I want."

"What?" he didn't quite understand.

"Kiss me again." she touched his jaw. He looked down at her without emotion, then took her in his arms and kissed her passionatley. She wound her arms around him, weaving them in and out of his long hair. The feeling of another human being against her made her feel full and alive again, his heart beating against her, his warm mouth around her own.

His kiss took her away from her life, her lonely little apartment, the heartbreak that lived with its walls. She felt his hands moving along her back, one was cradeling her head, his long fingers wound about her own hair. He pulled her closer to his body, holding her tigther. She held onto him tighter as well, as close as he would come to her. It felt marvelous.

"Zechs.." she said in in a sigh as he took himself from her.

"Yes?" Their faces were still close, his lips dangerously near to her throat as she rested on his ear.

"Don't stop, please, don't stop."

He did just that, and kissed her throat, and again. His hands were on her hips as he moved down bit by bit and she kept her arms wrapped around him. Zechs' hands moved up her sides until he reached near her under arm, there he brough his right hand to the center of her back and his other hand over her chest, holding her left breasts in the palm of his hand. Pippa lifted her head and looked at the man, smile half smiled a lustful smile and removed his jacket for him, tossing it aside. She ran her hands down his chest, feeling his muscles under her palms. Zechs stopped kissing her and looked into her eyes, saying without words what he wanted from her.

His wasn't a look of love or lust, it wasn't a sex-hungry stare, it was soft, like he cared, like he knew what she was feeling, what had recently happened to the poor young woman to make her life a living hell. He could see right into her head.

He grabbed the bottom of her tee shirt and pulled it up over her head, she lifted her arms for him, then layed them upon his chest once again, unbuttoning the top button on his shirt. She moved down the the next one and the next, delicatley unbuttoning the little white circles. Hi lips were back on her neck, moving down around her collar bone. By now they were almost laying down, propped up only by a few white throw pillows. She pulled off his blue shirt and tossed it back near his jacket. He wore a wife beater underneath, which he removed himself, revealing his smooth chest. He had well developed muscles and soft, smooth skin. 

His kissed were down in her breasts now, he reached up to remove her bra, but she did it for him with ease, it slipped off, down her arm to the floor, matching with the same color of white. He kept kissing them, moving up to the nipple of each, moving his tongue around on them, teasing them, biting even a little. She held his head, arching her back a little, moving her hands down his back, feeling his spine. She noves her hands around his waist to thefront of his pants, unbuttoning them, unzipping the zipper and pushing them down as far as she could. Zechs sat up on his kneesand removed his pants quickly, leaving on his white boxer briefs as he removed Pippa's pants. He immediatley slid his finger under the thin elastic band on her bikini-style panties and slid them down her legs, over her feet. He looked over her naked body, sprawled out along the couch and smiled in that evil, sneaky way of his. He liked what he saw. No distinguishing marks, nothing stood out. Her dakr hair on her clit was just so, not shaved, not waxed, nothing. And her breasts, round, firm, and just the perfect size for him to indulge himself.

Zechs removed his own underwear to reveal his erect member. Pippa sat up just a little on her elbows and wrapped her fingers around it and felt his muscle in her palm. She layed him down, kissing his chest and putting just the slightest pressure in her push. She bent orward, pulling her hairs back and circled her tongue around the tip of his cut manhood. He gasped a little and tilted his head back as she took him into her mouth, moving her tongue all around and she began moving up and dow, up and down, faster with every repettiion... Zechs held her breast in his hand and the base of his erection with the other, breathing fast and heavy. Soon enough, he couldn't handle the pace any longer and sat up and pushed Pippa back onto the couch and steadied himself above her. She put her hand up on his chest and the other was on her clit, rubbing the coarse hair and the skin below.

Zechs touched the tip of his manhood to her hot clit and slowly pushed forwards. Pippa gasped at the initial pain and pleasure, holding onto the couch beneath her. His penis was so much larger than that of the otherm an she had known, herprevious boyfriend, who had recently left her for good. She felt the large shaft with her starting to move, weak but often thrusts at first. But soon, Zechs picked up the pace and his force, hitting her hard, but giving them both what they seeked. 

Pippa replaces her middle and ring finger at the top of her clit and rubbed herself hard to help reaching her climax, her other hand fondling her own breast. She thrust her hips towards Zechs, her back arched, it was next to impossible. Zechs and going as hard as he could, the expression lit up on his face was unreadable. It wasn't pleasure, it wasn't pain, it was a mixture of the two. A bead of sweat came down his forehead as he, himself, neared the end.

"Oh, god, Zechs!" yelped Pippa along with a gasp. She was cumming, and fast, Zechs himself withdrew from the womman and from the tip of his manhood spewed the sticky white liquid that gave him such relief. Its spilled all over Pippa's lower half anf her couch as he layed back.

They were both panting, their chests rising and falling often. They had both reached orgasm and quite gracefully at that. Pippa looked up across the couc hand Zechs, he looked ass he did, worn out, having trouble grasping aa good breath. She crawled over and layed in the pit of his arm, laying an arm over him as his arm secured itself around the smaller woman.

They were there, together, for a few hours, fast asleep. It was early evening when Zechs awoke. He looked around, noticing that he wasnt in a hotel. He looked down, he was covered in a blanket and Pippa was no longer at his side. He sat up and stretched a little.

"You're awake" he heard her voice. She was behind him, her hair wet from a shower, dressed in another outfit of green.

"How long have I been here"

"5 hours" she sat on the arm of the couch above him, brushing her hair.

"Goddammit..Im gonna be late... " Zechs looked arounda nd grabbed his clothes, putting them on quickly.

"For what?"

"A very important meeting..." and he trailed off as he found her bathroom and examined his hair.

"Im sorry..." Pippa came to the door way and stood, watching him. He pushed past her to the door, getting his shoes on."Zechs?"

"What"

"Are you going to come back?"

He sighed and looked back at her, brow furrowed.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"No" he opened the door, stepped out, shut the door and left. The storm was over now, only single drops of rain fell onto his head now from the light pink sunset in the sky.  
  



	2. Profligate Child

-Profligate Child-  
  
9 long months had passed since her meeting with Zechs. In that long time, Pippa Khushrenada had married her love, Trowa. She is now Pippa Bloom. Early in their marriage she had conceived her first child with her husband, not to her liking. She didn't want children yet. And, as even more of a surprise, her old friends from the war, Chantal and Quatre contacted her and arranged a meeting. Before their meeting much later that year, Pippa and Trowa had discovered that they weren't having just one baby, they were having Twins. A boy an a girl.

At their meeting with their dear friends, they found out that Quatre was yet still a billionaire, and they lived that way. And they had already had a bitty son of their own. The trip home was long and depressing.

A few months after their trip to France to visit Quatre and Chantal is where they leave us....

* * *

It was an unusually cold November, it was, in Nagoya that year. The ships sailing in and out of the bay were on sheduel, as normal. You could set your watch to them. There were no children playing in the streets today, no housewives dusting their porches, no grandmothers rocking in their chairs on their porch, doing a crossword puzzle.

21-year-old Pippa sat in her living room, looking unhappy, bloated with her two children inside. Her husband sat near to her on the couch, holding her hand, as they watch the weather report on the news. Nothing new, just an early cold front, they said.

"I hope it doesn't get too cold... Or snow." Trowa said blankly, not directly to his wife.

"Why?"

"Then we couldn't get to the hospital when our babies are born."

Pippa sighed, thinking about their babies. Trowa was pretty excited about his 'miracle' as he put it. But Pippa wasn't. When she had orginally gone to her geinocologyst, he said her child seemed to have been conceived 3 weeks prior than they had stated. But Trowa said that wasn't possible, that they had married only 2 weeks prior. The doctor then just dismissed the idea, and said maybe the baby was growing abnormally fast. Nothing serious.

"Oh..yeah.." Pippa replied. 

"Honey, dont be so down about this. This is a great thing happening, with the two children. Think of how many people can't have children." Trowa was oddly happy about this.

"Yeah..." she sighed.

That was how their days were spent with each other now. They didn't talk much unless Trowa new it wouldn't upset his wife. The emotionally unstable Pippa.

"Darling, would you like anything to drink?" Trowa stood, looking down upon his wife. She shook her head and kept watching the news program. Trowa sighed and went back to their kitchen, getting himself something to drink and returning to his wife's side, taking her hand again.

"Why me, Trowa?" she asked.

"Dear... Dont say that, this is wonderful!" he reassured her.

"No its not!" Pippa had often thought, through her pregnancy, of her little one night fling with Zechs Merquise. And her ex-boyfriend, the one she had dumped the day before Zechs came. That had indeed happened about 1 or 2 weeks before she reuinted with and married Trowa. She couldn't help but wonder if these children, the ones Trowa was so proud of, weren't his. But if they were another man's.

"You know it is for me, with my... problem. This is a miracle!"

"Not for me" she looked him, straight in the eye. She looked almost on the edge of tears. Trowa sa this and instinctively grabbed his wife, wrapping his long, thin arms around her.

It wasn't too much later that day that Pippa's water broke and she went into labor. Trowa rushed her to the hospital in their car before any contractions, or at least the bad ones, even were close to starting. Once in her hospital bed and everything was checked and attacked and ready, Trowa returned to her side, hold her hand again.

"This is wonderful! Just think, by Tomorrow, we'll have two little wonderful babies to love and cherish for the rest of our lives."

Pippa looked at him, smiling, that he could be so happy. But then. he didn't know a single thing that ran through is wife's mind about her troubles with naming who the father of her children was. "Right..."

"Have you thought of any names yet?" he inquired.

Pippa shook her head no.

"Really? I would have thought you'd have hundreds by now" he smiled. She didn't.

"Why dont you think of some nice names, maybe I'll like them." she replied.

"Oh... sure..." Trowa thought for a moment. "Catherine and David? or... Alex and Heather... or Cameran and Chase--I like those-- or... Mark and Rebecca... Lise and Peter"

Pippa sighed. "I dont know... they're all good."

"You have a while to decide, love." Trowa kissed her forehead and brushed her hair from her face, just like he always had.

Her labor went on for hours and hours, about 63. Sixty-three painful hours of contractions. Her two babies were born with ease, not a single thing went wrong. They were both a healthy 7lbs. They were cleaned up and handed to their crying mother, they crying along with her, loudly, painfully even. Pippa looked at her two children, crying. Trowa had a tear in his eye, proud of his daughter and son. But there was something wrong. 

They were blonde. Platinum blonde. These weren't Trowa's children.

Pippa wiped her eyes clear of tears and took a deep breath. She looked and Trowa who looked so happy, feeling the soft, down-like hair on his son's head. She closed her eyes and looked at the doctors.

"I don't want them." she said coldly.

"What!?" explaimed Trowa, looking at her. "Pippa!?"

"I don't want them. They're not... They're not _our_ children, its not right.

"What do you mean?" Trowa asked her.

"They're not yours.. they're... Zechs Merquise's children."

Trowa looked stunned. "W-what?"

Pippa's eyes teared up again. "When I was living in Tokyo... He was there on a trip and we ran into each other-- it was wrong! I hate myself!" she cried. "I was just getting over a break-up... "

Trowa looked at her blankly, nodding slightly. He sat back down in his chair as it all hit him.

"Are you sure, MrsBloom? This is a life changing desicion." A doctor said to her.

She nodded fast.

"Would you like to name them before we take them?"

She looked at Trowa, who was holding his head in his hands, staring at the floor, in disbelief.

"Cameran and Chase."

"Okay." the doctor left to write up birth certificates while a nurse took the two children away from Pippa.

Trowa was still sitting there, feeling almost at the point of crying. He thought they were his, a real accomplishment that he could be proud of. Why didn't she just keep them, he thought, we wouldn't have to tell them anything, just love them forever. Maybe it is for the best. 

"Im sorry...I just dont want that kind of burden waying me down" Pippa appologized to Trowa, crying again.

"Its fine" Trowa said. He looked at his wife. She was crying, trying to hold her tears back. What ever happened to that teenage girl, the one who wouldnt cry or unbraid her braids for her life, that he met way back when? He stood and came to her side, taking her hand.

"I love you, Pippa." he simply said. She looked up at the tall man, crying, hugging him and being hugged back. 

They left the hospital the next day, still down in the dumps and the light snow fell around the city. On the road they didnt talk much, hardly a word from either one. Once they got home, Pippa retired to her bed, wrapped in blankets, crying. Their phone rang and Trowa sighed as he wanted to comfort his love-- he couldnt stand to see people suffering anymore. But the caller ID on their phone read the name Winner Quatre. He picked up the phone and took the call. 

It was Chantal, calling back again. She had called a few times while they were at the hospital. Trowa explained that his wife had gone into labor.

"You dont sound too happy about it, Trowa"

Trowa had to find the right way to explain what happened to Chantal. He couldn't think. "Uhm... they were... stillborne." He lied and couldn't believe the magnitude of his lie.

"Oh my god, Im so sorry! Thats so horrible!" Chantal exclaimed.

Trowa agreed and told her all about what happened, how horrible it was, how painful. Chantal couldn't believe their rotten luck, her having ended up with such a wonderful life. They talked for a good hour or so. Finally Chantal had to go and Trowa returned to his wife's side and told her his cover story. It was hard enough on her right now ,anyways, that she didnt care what they thought happened, really. As long as she would never have to face her children or their real father again.

  
  



	3. Fostered

Disclaimer: This time... these characters ARE mine! So... yeah... Don't think I stole them, becuase if there are any creepy similarities, then it's really not my fault, or maybe it is, but its not whatever character you're thinking of, because Sha and I created these characters. And any characters that ARENT mine that are mentioned, aren't mine and are property of their rightful creators. -Love, Pip  
  
- Fostered -  
  
Spring, After Colony 217  
  
Topeka, in those days, was a rather pleasant place to live after the ward had ended. The city had been pretty well preserved and the war had hardly touched it, so there wasn't too much rebuilding to be done. There were plenty of tall shade trees and little fruit-bearing trees that were engineered to produce wonderful fruits in the climate that Topeka was in. The houses all looked exactly the same, maybe a few with a different paint color on the outside, but otherwise every house had a shade tree, a bush lined face and a few flowers in their gardens. They were all two-storied and had a roof that was accessible with a nice flat area for star gazing. Each house had a mailbox at the street, almost all had their little red flags up signalling the arrival of letters and catalogues.  
  
House number 3130 on SW Lane was a bit different from the rest around it. It didn't have an upstairs like it's neighbors and it was a very, very old house. All of the houses around it had been modified and updated to the fullest extent right around wartime ended, but this one had kept it's old glory. It was ranch-style and still proudly bore it's ancient rust colored paint underneath the huge tree that through shadows all over the front lawn and over quite a bit of the house itself. A very nice antique.  
  
Out on the front lawn sat two people, inhabitants of the house obviously. They were teenagers, maybe 15 or 16 at the oldest. One, a girl, and the other, a boy, sat in the grass, reclined on their backs and looking up towards the sky, through the great big leaves that sprouted from the tree branches above.  
  
"I don't know... I don't really like sports at all. All the guys were kinda shunning me after I didn't want to join the team like the rest of them..." The boy said, rubbing a spec of dust from his eye. His voice was deep-- very deep-- already and carried a rather soothing tone, a very familiar tone.  
  
"Don't fall to peer pressure. If you don't want to play sports, then don't, Chase." Replied his sister. He didn't reply just yet.  
  
Inside the house, someone had a TV on pretty loud, watching a news channel, as was a typical thing at this house. The female reporter went on... "A number of war orphans, waiting for homes ever since AfterColony 197 have finally been released to live on their own after reaching their nineteenth or, in some cases, twentieth birthday this year. Many have set out to locate their real parents and others have decided not to bother with the past. Here's what a few of them had to say..."  
  
"Cameran?"  
  
"What."  
  
"Do you ever wonder if we're adopted?" Chase looked over at his platinum blonde sister just as she looked at him.  
  
"Why do you ask that? You know we aren't." Her voice was unsure.  
  
"Well... I mean, think about it. We don't look anything like our parents, or our grandparents or anybody related to us. When I applied for my permit back in November, mom wouldn't let me see my birth certificate, and when I asked her why she said that I could see it if I wanted, but we had to leave."  
  
"That's just speculation, Chase. Don't be so paranoid."  
  
"And look at us-- we don't look like twins! Not even fraternal twins." Chase sat up and flicked his long black hair behind his shoulder. He stared down at his sister with his piercing ice blue eyes, trying to dig deep into her mind and get her to side with him.  
  
"So? Not all fraternal twins have similar traits."  
  
"Why don't you believe me, Cami? I mean, I know I don't have much proof, but I just... I think I'm right. Mom and dad don't even seem like they're our own parents."  
  
"You ALWAYS think you're right. Such an arrogant guy." She stared back up at him. Her eyes, though, were strikingly different than Chase, or anyone in her family's for that matter. Yes, other people had green eyes, but hers were almond-shaped. They had no Asian roots in their family anywhere, but she had the look. And her face was small and oval, her lips and her nose and her ears were all tiny and delicately shaped as opposed to her brother's chiseled good looks. Very European. She looked Asian.  
  
"Come on, I've been right on things like this before! Remember when dad said that Ichabod had been hit by a car and had gone to birdie heaven? Well, remember how I thought that was a lie and it WAS!"  
  
"That's way different."  
  
"So?"  
  
Cameran sighed and got up, walking inside away from her brother and his abstract ideas.  
  
"You'll be sorry when I'm right, Cameran Thackleberry!"  
  
She just ignored her slightly younger brother and went past the living room into her room. It was hardly decorated at all, especially for a teenage girl. It was all blindingly clean white with just a few nick-naks on her dresser and desk. There were three photos hanging on her walls, all framed in white frames and the glass was shining clean. There were a few articles on her desk cut out from recent issues of the newspaper. She was really into the history of the Eve Wars and had kept many, many articles on the subject, especially on the infamous Gundam pilots. She studied books about the era and watched every news special, PBS program and any movie or mini-series she could get her hands on.  
  
She knew about every battle and every one of the leaders of the era. She knew all the basic stats on such people as Treize Khushrenada, Relena Peacecraft and her mysterious brother Milliardo Peacecraft. She knew, also, all the stats about the eight Gundam pilots and their suits. The mystery around them, the scandal and the romance of their journeys and their lives intrigued her. Sometimes she wished that she had lived back then and had been a pilot in the Alliance, or a right-hand man at the Gundams' side. But then again.. She loved to daydream.  
  
"Cameran, what was your brother yelling about, now?" Her mother knocked briefly on the doorjamb and came right into the white room. She was a short woman, with curly brown hair and thin, hollow hazel eyes. She was a bit round in her build but had a heavenly face.  
  
"Oh, he's up to one of his crazy theories again, mama." She sat down at her desk and sifted through her articles. Her mother gave her another to add to her collection.  
  
"This was in today's paper-- it's about the battle in Antarctic. I thought you might like it."  
  
"Thanks..." She browsed through the article.  
  
"What's his new theory now?" Her mother was at bit prying, though. She was a gossip.  
  
Cameran set down the article and rested her hands on her desk, folding them, then unfolding them. She swiveled in her chair to face her mother, who had just sit down on the white bed. "He thinks... Uh, well... Mama, I have a question for you."  
  
"Alright, what is it honey?"  
  
She knew she was going to sound like her brother on this one, but Cameran really just wanted to find out. She didn't want to let him know that she agreed with his thought, but it was all too often that Chase and Cameran had the same thoughts and ideas. She, too at one point, had wondered if she was adopted. She really didn't like siding with her brother on things like that, so she would hold them in until such an idea or question could prove useful in their rather fancy-free sibling rivalry. "Are Chase and I adopted?" There, she just said it plain and true. She wanted to know now. No lolly-gagging this time.  
  
Her mother was shocked at the question and gasped a little, putting her hand to her chest and trying to formulate a response to her daughter's question. Cameran stared at her mother, blinking only when needed as she waited for the response. She was dead serious about this, and she looked the part. After her mother had thought for just a few seconds her expression turned sad and he couldn't look at her daughter. She looked down and away from Cameran, ashamed.  
  
"Mama?"  
  
"Cameran..." She swayed her glance back up to the girl, on the verge of tears.  
  
"Mama, no... It can't be true! I just... That's what... I didn't..." Cameran now regretted asking her mother this. She didn't want to know this.  
  
"I didn't know when to tell you guys-- I didn't know if to were old enough yet, and your father told me never to tell you guys, but I..." She looked deep into the girl's green eyes. "I'm sorry for not telling you, Cameran, I really am, and--"  
  
"No... Mama, it's fine..." Cameran, the steel-willed warrior-wannabe girl now felt tears in her own eyes. Sometimes she could be just so abrupt that it hurt herself. They were adopted. Chase and Cameran Thackleberry, grade 9 at Topeka High School, at the top of their class, were adopted. Members of the forensics teams as well as avid drama doobies, were adopted.  
  
"Cameran, are you okay?" Her mother held strong her own iron will.  
  
"I'll be fine... Just... Leave me be for a while, please."  
  
Without words she left, closing the white for behind her to give her only daughter privacy. She was alone for a few hours, just sitting at her desk and looked at the years of articles she had collected, about the war, the warriors and the war orphans. Was she a war orphan? Was she actually four years older than what her mother had told her? She was often told that she looked older and much too tall to be 15. No, she knew she was 15. The doctor told her so and so did her conscious.  
  
In her collection there were a few wartime articles her parents had saved, or she had found them in old papers in antique shops or collectors shops. She loved those the most, 'Gundam Pilots Hit Victoria in Victory', 'Cinq Kingdom No Longer Cinq-tuary', 'Princess Relena Dubbed Queen of World', Identities of Eight Pilots Revealed to World; Not What You'd Expect', '8-year-old Khushrenada Heiress Follows Father's Lead'.  
  
"Cami?" Came a voice from behind her door. Chase stood outside, hands in pockets, waiting for his sister to answer to his call.  
  
"Come in." He did just that and went straight to her side, watching her read her favorite articles.  
  
"Mom told me you asked."  
  
"I'm sorry..."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For lying to you, and saying that I didn't believe you." She looked up at him. "I shouldn't had said that-- I shouldn't have even asked her."  
  
"Well... At least now we know. Did she tell you anything else?"  
  
"No, I couldn't even look at her less ask anything else."  
  
"I know who our parents-- our REAL parents are." Chase sat on her bed and folded his big hands, looking at the floor, then the ceiling, then over at Cameran, who didn't even look over at him.  
  
"You asked?"  
  
"Of course I did-- why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Chase...--"  
  
"I think you'll be surprised, Cami. I wouldn't have told you unless I knew you'd be interested."  
  
"I don't want to know..."  
  
"I know you do, Cameran. If you want me to leave you alone, I can come back later when you want--"  
  
"Tell me." She looked at him, turning around in her chair to face him fully. Did she really want to know though? Oh well, she knew Chase wouldn't lie to her about this. He got up and went to her desk, sifting through her articles and pointed at on in particular.  
  
"There's our father." He moved around the articles more and picked up a newer one, just from last year, and looked at the picture of a few people. The photo was wartime, but the article was new. He looked at it for a minute and tried to remember which one it was from history class. "And... There's our mother." He pointed at a woman.  
  
"Chase... That's not even funny."  
  
"I'm not lying, Cameran, go ask mom and dad."  
  
She sat there for a moment and let it set in. She looked in her brother's blue eyes and dug deep, trying to find his real motive. There wasn't anything there but what he said he was doing. Tell her who her parents were. She looked down at the pictures she had pointed out and stared in disbelief. Those two people were two of her idols, how could she be their child? Was this real? Were her parents mistaken? No, they couldn't have been. This was all for real.  
  
"I can't believe it either, Cami. Who would had known... Milliardo Peacecraft and Pippa Kari..."  
  
"This can't be right...."  
  
"Hmm... you're right, that's not her real name.... I don't know it, though. But you know who I mean."  
  
"Chase! That's not what I meant, and you know it! How could they be our parents??"  
  
"Don't ask me, I'm just the messenger."  
  
Cameran looked at her brother with at it of contempt before she got out of her chair and went to the living room where her parents were, sitting together at a table with the TV off now. They both stood at the entrance of their daughter, followed soon by their son.  
  
"Cameran, baby, I'm sorry--" Her father approached her, but was soon intercepted by Cameran's blocking arm and and interruption.  
  
"Dad, I don't need an apology. I just want you to tell me the truth."  
  
"You... And Chase are adopted. We adopted you two all the way from Nagoya, Japan when we were students down there..."  
  
"Is Chase right, about our parents?"  
  
"..." He looked at his wife, and she nodded, "Yes."  
  
Cameran had to take a minute to let it all sink in. Her childhood idols were her parents. She was the child of two great warriors from their time. But she couldn't think why she would have been given up for adoption and ended up here. Why would they just through those twins out like that for anyone to grab? It was all too much. Her whole life so far was a lie. Grandma Thora and Eloise, Grandpa Justin and Auntie Laurellen weren't hers. Mama and dad weren't hers. Topeka wasn't where she was born, and deffinatly not where she was rooted. She was from Japan and Cinq Kingdom Royalty and a member of the great power in Russia, the Khushrenadas, somewhere down the line.  
  
"Cameran, are you alright?" Her father asked.  
  
She looked up with a jolt and stared straight into her father's dull brown eyes. "I want to meet my parents."  
  
...TSUZUKU...  
  
- Please Review! Part Four Coming Soon! - 


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